The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-03
A MODERN DRESS-REFORMER.
How Mrs. Anna Jenness Miller Lives and
Some of the Dresses She Wears.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.


pied by Mrs. Anna Jenness Miller. known fol
her advocacy of hygienic dress for women, and
editor of the new dress reform magazine Dress
who has recently transferred her lares and pen
ates thither from Washington. Shades Of
Amelia Bloomerl TheT first dress reformers
were plueky but luekless. Could any body asso
ciate Mrs. Bloomer with Queen Anne cottage
and green, rolling lawn? Could anybody i'm
aglae her in such study as found Mrs. Miller
In yesterday-polished floor rug-strewn. deli
catey tinted walls hung with etchngs and rare
eneravings. porteres in odd but artistic color
combinations. and summer curtains blowing in
the windl Does usually picture Amelia
Bloomer as boarding her spare dollars for quaint
and curious bric-a-brac and taking pride in her
diningroom with its dainty tableware4 trow
not And yet could anybody influence in the
smallest degree the dress of the American woman
who did not like beautiful things as we'll as the
American woman, or oven little better, be-
cause of finer appreciation than she!
| Mrs. Bloomer was heroine, a greater than
| Mrs Miller to me, but she was not the kind of
heroine that succeeds. Mrs. Miller will 60 no
faster than the averagewoman can follow her.
and will take feminine humanity with her. In
stead of presenting reform in the guise of
duty that one must be martyred by the laughter
of ones kind in doing. she appeals to every
woman's innate wish to be more attrac tive than
| she is
don't know that should have supposed my.
| self talking to ''reformedo woman as sat op-
| posite Mrs. Miller In her simple house gown
OF some soft yellow-tan material that fell in long
graceful lines from neck to heel, gathered at the
waist line by the folds of red silk girdle and
relieved by slightly pulled sleeves with long
| cuffs to the wrists, che looked to me more like
| one of the beauties of the Directory with sense
| enough to wear high necked dress Of morn
| ing and not to abbreviate her waist to unDe
coming extent. modified and modest gown of
the period of the Consulate was what she
seemed to be wearing, and 1t would be hard to
ind anywhere prettier more sensible attire
than that Is capable of being.
Mrs. Miller's wardrobe indeed amply illus
trates the possibility of putting on nothing that
Is inconsistent with health. and at the
time of being in no way conspicuous in ordinary
society. except in so far as well-dressed woman
Is always conspicuous and usually rejoices in
being conspicuous among her kind. The sea-
gown has risen in good season to assist her.
Now that a dress has been accepted for after
noon occasions which permits a woman clasp
her hands behind her hair. the further changes
which Mrs Miller has adopted to fit loose
gown for morning evening and the street as well
are made with comparative
navy blue surah silk is made, like all her
dresses, in one piece. the draperies being hung
on the foundations, alike in every case, of 0m
pie princess gown form. 1t has full, soft Greek
front. something after the style of the fedora,
but in even longer lines and giving more grace
full sweep. The back is fitted closely like
basque, but the full draperies shirred on to
it. taking the weight off the waist and keeping
the bodice smooth and in place. The sleeves are
fulled enough to get rid of the baroness of
plain coat sleeve. and beaded collar supplies
the garniture. Neither corset nor hustle is worn
with such gown which follows the natural
lines OF the figure and would satisfy an artists |
eye
A white silk-lace dress FOR summer wear has |
the gown form of while silk rhadzimlr, with low |
neck and short sleeves Upon this the lace is |
draped in full folds the front of the skirt,
and with it Is worn little lace jacket, with full
fancy sleeves. Another summer dress. of black |
llama lace and surah, has entirely different.
though equally effective, arrangement Of the |
drapery in long, simple lines. A velvet gown is
rich with brocade of mauve and black, and an
experiment in foulard for July and August has
full neck and pulled sleeves of white lace. and
full draperies never cut off at the waist, nor
chopping a woman into three sections after the
usual basque, overdress and skirt Plan.
For Office wear, and as suggestion to the
business woman, Mrs. Miller attires herself in
blue and gray basket-cloth mixture, made with
deep yoke of dark blue velvet about the
throat, side pieces of the bodice drawn toward
the front in plaits supporting the form, basque
back and draperies gathered on behind A plain
walking dress of dark wool goods in olive
mixture with a touch OF golden in it has a
fedora bodice front of plaided surah. and is
made short enough to clear any underfoot
weather, high boots made for the purpose going
with it out of doors.
The principles of her dress system, so far as
it is complex enough to be called a system, carry
nothing with them which a good conservative
cannot approve. Taking it for granted. in the
|
proved upon by torturing it with that engine of
bones and steels, the corset. yet by piling
mountain of humps in the shape of hustle
springs upon its back she tries to clothe it IN a
natural healthful way. that shall at the same
time be more artstically satisfactory than any
thing that a has before If she
would not coin such tbarbarous word 'leg-
lettes' for the divided skirt worn beneath the
gown, that garm ent would be more than salts
factory substitute for the petticoat, with the ao
ditional advantage to that conservative creature,
a woman, that nobody would ever know you had
it on. For the gowns themselves most of them
are of delightfully."- light weie ut, compared with |
the conventional costume and ali of them dis
pense with tho close-itting biased waist which |
the corset to keep it smooth. For
the cost there is as much variety in them as to
the usual wardrobe, and they are much prettier
for good figure and worse for poor one.
NIrs Miller has been wise enough in her day |
and generation to turn her attention first to |
dresses that would attract women of leisure, |
leaders of women and her dresses for the recep- |
ton room are better worked out than those for
counting room, schoolroom or street. But all in |
good time. She has idea of certainty, and
the working of it ont can be left safely to time
In two years, venture to prophesy, she will use
less trimming and produce better results. Her
cardinal principles long Greek lines like |
those that make Mary Anderson's draperies more
graceful than those of any other actress the |
stage. the use OF materials that picturesque |
n themselves, and attention to sleeves. ] sup
pose she is looking at her venture more or less
rom the business point of view. but it is high
lime that somebody tried to make business of
seaching women to reform in the only way that,
n this century, is practicable, not by trying to
,cold them out of ~corsets for woman ever |
changed button or pin of her attire for scold-
ng; hut by showing them something that they
amt help acknowledging is prettier than the old
way. Mrs Miller is a pretty woman herself, and
thoroughly enjoys contriving beautiful things
which is a great advantage.
ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN
The Summer Hat.
Special rc the Indianapolis journal.
NEW YORK, July 1.-The hat has object in
ife this summer. Its ambition, usually graft
4, e. ha r,,r+;, T& +ha |